B.C. HST opponent calls in the Mounties

Wednesday, June 16, 2010 | 6:44 AM PT CBC News

Organizers of the campaign to dump the harmonized sales tax in B.C. hope the RCMP will step in where Elections BC has refused to act. Fight HST leader Bill Vander Zalm says he has asked for a police investigation of a B.C. government website he claims violates the Initiative Act. The former premier says he went to the Mounties after Elections BC ignored his complaint about a website promoting the harmonized tax. According to Vander Zalm, the government-sponsored site includes several videos favouring the combined federal and provincial sales tax, which is due to take effect in B.C. on July 1. Vander Zalm believes the ads violate the Initiative Act because they amount to an expense incurred by an organization not registered as an opponent of the campaign. Fight HST won a similar battle earlier this year when Elections BC ruled a government-sponsored pamphlet about the tax broke Initiative Act regulations.